Mayor says LRT project `saved'

MONTREAL • Monday's decision by the Quebec government and Montreal to take back management of the REM de l'Est will ensure that the controversial light-rail project eventually gets built, Mayor Valérie Plante said Thursday.

“I consider that we didn't abandon the project. We saved the project,” Plante said during a lunchtime discussion hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, when asked about the REM de l'Est. “In its initial form, the project was heading into a wall.”

Quebec and Montreal announced Monday they were taking over management of the REM de l'Est after CDPQ Infra, the infrastructure unit of the $420-billion Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, backed out of the venture.

CDPQ Infra's proposed $10-billion, 32-kilometre light-rail project had angered citizen groups and heritage organizations alike — in large part because of the line's elevated section and the potential for the concrete pylons to disfigure swaths of Montreal.

From now on, four parties will be in charge of planning the REM de l'Est: Quebec's Transport Ministry, the City of Montreal, the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain and the Société de transport de Montréal.

Skepticism among Montreal merchants and entrepreneurs over the fate of the eastern leg of the Réseau Express Métropolitain remains high. “Nobody” in the business community believes that the REM de l'Est will be built rapidly, Chamber of Commerce head Michel Leblanc told the audience during the exchange with Plante.

A much simpler project — the express bus service on Pie-IX Blvd. — has taken a long time to happen, he noted.

“You are right in saying that we need to deliver,” Plante acknowledged.

Still, the recent track record of the four organizations now overseeing the REM de l'Est bodes well for the future, she argued.

“We're taking the leadership of a project that in its current form couldn't get done,” Plante said. “Yes, there are things to firm up, but I'm very confident.”